ON  RHATANY  BOOT. 
539 
official  lists  of  imports ;  the  new  drug  I  shall  call  Savanilla 
Rliatany. 
The  opinion  of  Mettenheimer  (Archiv  der  Pharm.,  53,  II. 
180)  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  Radix  Nanary  to  come  into 
trade  as  a  spurious  rhatany,  as  supposed  by  Wiggers,  I  perfectly 
agree  with.  The  difference  between  the  two  roots  is  too  striking 
not  to  be  observed  at  once. 
The  seron  of  Savanilla  Rhatany  which  I  examined,  consisted 
entirely  of  one  sort ;  while  in  most  serons  of  Payta  Rhatany  I 
have  observed  that,  apart  from  the  difference  which  might  occur 
in  the  same  root  when  collected  at  different  times  of  the  year,  or 
when  exported  from  different  places,  it  varied  very  materially  in 
the  same  seron,  young  and  old  root-stocks  differing  greatly  in 
the  color,  size,  number,  and  length  of  their  roots,  being  all  mixed 
together. 
Druggists  are  in  the  habit  of  distinguishing  two  sorts  of  Payta 
Rhatany,  one  sort  stumpy  or  short,  and  another  designated  as 
long.  If  the  root-diggers  bestow  the  needful  care  in  removing 
the  roots  from  the  soil,  the  long  variety  of  the  drug  will  be  ob- 
tained ;  while  in  the  short,  stumpy,  or  chumpy  form,  it  is  plainly 
indicated  that  the  shrubs  have  been  torn  from  the  soil  with  force, 
and  that  sufficient  regard  has  not  been  had  carefully  to  extract 
the  long,  creeping  root.  The  long  Rhatany  is  preferred  to  the 
short  or  stumpy  variety.  The  stumpy  sort  occurs  in  pieces,  from 
the  lower  part  of  which  proceed  numerous  roots?  some  running 
in  a  perpendicular,  but  more  in  a -tolerably  regular  horizontal 
direction.  The  aerial  stem  varies  very  much  in  length  and 
thickness,  as  do  likewise  the  length,  thickness,  number,  and  di- 
rection of  the  roots.  In  most  cases,  the  stem  of  the  Rhatany  plant 
is  cut  off  a  few  inches  above  the  ground;  its  thickness  varies  from 
J  of  an  inch  to  3  inches  ;  it  is  not  always  perfectly  cylindrical, 
but  frequently  irregular  and  knotty.  One  seron  contained  roots 
evidently  collected  with  very  little  care,  since  to  some  of  them, 
branched  or  simple  stems  from  1  to  2  feet  .long  were  still  at- 
tached. The  longest  aerial  stem  which  I  had  the  opportunity 
of  seeing,  measured  26  inches.  Another  and  upright  stem  whose 
base  of  3J  inches  in  diameter,  branched  into  three  nearly  equal 
shoots,  was  covered  here  and  there,  and  especially  on  its  broken 
ends,  with  a  grey  epidermis,  upon  which,  besides  some  blackish 
